John Oliver – a perfect blend of journalism and comedy

John Oliver is something special. He jumped into the limelight last year with his own show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver after a brief 8-week stint guest hosting The Daily Show.

Last Week Tonight is an HBO show and as such, I’ve never seen a full episode. However, they put the main segment of each show on their YouTube channel which I look forward to watching each week. The main segment is a 15-20 minute piece looking at a topic that John wants to shine a light on. Sometimes the topics are current and other times they’re longstanding issues.

John does an excellent job of making us care about things that we’re either unaware of or that we’ve just had a tendency to accept as a society. He and his team of journalists research the topics in great depth and show just how much of a mockery they have become, both from a social and a political standpoint. He publicly highlights and humiliates politicians that pander to big business and lambasts companies that conduct themselves unethically, all while threading through a wave of comedy.

I think watching a few clips will do a much better job of highlighting the kind of show this is, why it’s such a hit and maybe cause you to take action on a few things yourself.

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Author: Dave

Dave is many things. Most importantly, he's a husband and a father to Ellie and Jack. Almost as important, he's British (though he lives in Florida). Following on from there, he's a WordPress developer and civil engineer, has an unhealthy love of hummus, is vegan, likes cider, wants to travel to Iceland and Japan, loves solving puzzles and is a realist.
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